


Horror Forest

by Sephypsycologist



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Soft Vore, Vore, naga skeles, safe vore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 07:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17095973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sephypsycologist/pseuds/Sephypsycologist
Summary: A harpy finds that something was left behind in the forest crater





	1. Eyes from the dark

You’d been told not to go down there. That anyone who went to the old nesting grounds was attacked and eaten.

But you needed to go home.

Now that you mother was gone, and you were nesting alone, the ache in your chest was impossible to ignore. Harpies had lived in the Crater Cliffs for centuries before the food ran out in the forest below. The soft rock was perfect for making nests in, and far too crumbly for the monsters below to climb.

That made you sigh. The monsters.

You’d been so young when the food ran out down there. All of those different creatures turning on each other, and on your people. Everyone’d moved away after that, but you still felt like this was your home.

And if you were going to live here, you were going to help….at least if there was anybody left to help down there.

Landing on a large branch in the highest canopy, you listened. 

Silence, unnatural and utterly chilling. 

No forest should be this quiet. There should be skittering and chirping and rustling…there should be life. But there’s no sign here.

Except the faint scraping of something against a branch.

You whirl skyward and narrowly escape the grasp of a massive skeletal naga with a hole in the side of his skull. His body is all bone, no magic padding the ribs as he hisses in annoyance. His left socket is full of red light with a black pit of a pupil in the center, watching you as he wipes black drool off his mouth. “heh, lucky break, feathers. and here i thought i’d been dead quiet.”

His skull had a disturbing grin plastered on it, not moving even as he spoke. “been a while since i’ve see one of you birds. usually they’re too chicken to show up, unless they want to heckle us.” The light in his eye went out and you felt something crawling on your back even as you flapped to stay still in the air, “have you come for a laugh, too?”

That voice…it was deep and soft, but in a dangerous way, like a snow drift after an avalanche. “No,” you reply, making careful flaps to keep yourself in speaking range but well beyond his reach. “I was a child when we left here. I wanted to come home, and see if there was a chance to help anybody down here. Maybe see if I could learn the forest a little better.”

Chuckling wickedly, the skeleton shifted, leaning back on the bare spine of his tail, “well, feathers, why didn’t you say so earlier? would you like a tour?” You shuddered at the flicker of a red tongue across his fangs. He wasn’t asking that out of generosity.

“I’m sorry, but I haven’t quite gotten settled at home yet. Maybe some other time,” You flap off before he can get any more bright ideas on maybe killing you.

–

As you settle into your childhood nest, feeling warm and safe and surrounded by your mother’s love once again, the image of the naga haunts you.

Naga skeletons weren’t uncommon in the old days. The jewel tones of the magic coating their tails and belly were beautiful to behold. But this one was clearly starving, unable to heal his head wound and letting his ribs and tail go blank. There wasn’t even a small pouch of magic to hold his recent meals in. He hadn’t eaten in a while obviously,and that made your soul ache. No wonder he was acting so creepy.

Resolving to help as soon as possible, you snuggled into your wings and tried to sleep despite the unearthly silence outside.

–

It wasn’t as easy as you’d thought. The others still hunted and fished near here, and while that was fine, it made it hard to execute your plan.

They’d all laughed at you when you expressed sympathy for the monsters, and those that didn’t laugh chastised you for being naive. They’d killed and eaten members of your flock, after all.

But now that you’d seen the naga, seen just how desperate a state the inhabitants were in down there, you couldn’t ignore it.

So, you hunted as if you had a family to feed. As if you had six hatchlings back in your nest that needed food. Because you were going to feed the monsters.

You dropped fish from the lake into the forest when the others weren’t looking, hoping someone would be able to eat from your efforts. You let rabbit after rabbit drop into the trees.

Just anything to help.

–

You were just gliding at a safe distance over the trees after a few weeks of this when that rough voice stopped you, “feathers, what are you doing?”

Below, you saw the naga, lazily coiled around some branches and holding up a rabbit.

“y’know, i was taking a nice mid-morning nap today. but then this drops into my skull,” he clearly isn’t amused, the smile dropping from his face and his eye light halved with irritation. “as much as we need food down here, your tainted kills aren’t helping.”

“What do you mean, tainted?” You frown, slipping a little lower in the sky to speak with him. “I said I wanted to help, so I have been.”

“you expect me to believe that? you harpies have been robin the forests around here for ages, and crowing about it, too. you must’ve at least tried to poison this.” He dangled it from the ears, broken neck obvious. You always killed your prey quickly so they didn’t suffer.

“How do I make you believe I want to help?” You challenge him.

“eat this,” he tossed the rabbit at you, and you caught it in your talons. “show me you aren’t lying about it being good food and i’ll consider it.”

Not seeing any problem with that, you begin eating. You prefer your rabbit roasted, of course, but you need to prove to the naga you’re serious.

He seems shocked, his eye light small and shaky and his mouth set in a frown. “well, guess you’re dumber than i thought. alright, you win. but don’t blame me if your little stunt gets you eaten…unless i’m the one doing it, of course.”

With that , he slid back into the deep shadows below, and you sighed, taking the remains of your rabbit back home to finish.

–

Your efforts began to pay off, at least where that naga was concerned.

He’d try to snatch you from branches when you were resting on the trees, or give backhanded compliments to you on your hunting skills or the state of your feathers.

After a month of his heckling, you brought a big fish to the forest. “Hey, Naga! Come out. I know you’re there.”

He appeared, smirking a bit, “aww, you miss me, feathers?”

“No. But I have an exchange to make,” you smile at his confusion before he shrugs. “You tell me your name, and I’ll give you this fish.”

He looked at your fish, blinking slowly, then sighed, “seems like a bad deal on your end, but sure. name’s sans, sans the skeleton.”

You beamed and told him your name as you tossed him the fish.

Sans ate it whole, right in front of you, and you couldn’t help being fascinated as the sickly red magic structures formed inside his bones as the fish slid to rest right at the bottom of his torso.

“like what you see? i can offer you a front row seat to the inside if you want.” He laughed as you gasped and backed away, but you just huffed and left.

“Bye, Sans.”

“later, feathers~ don’t let your guard down now.”

—

Sans never stopped trying to catch you, and your poor legs had several scratches from the near misses. But he talked to you more. He told jokes after he popped up suddenly, catching your offered food and swallowing it in front of you. 

He even talked about the other creatures in the forest. There were spiders (those that had nearly gotten you stuck on a branch once), and living fire, and several different animals that had become intelligent…and more deadly than ever. Wild dogs, bears, slimes, all sorts of creatures you never hoped to meet.

All of these exchanges were after some failed attempt on your life, and you rested a good way off from him while the two of you conversed. But never did you let your guard drop.

You were a bit excited sometimes, when you saw him. He was beginning to look healthier, his bones smoothing out and brightening, and a very thin coating of magic over the bones on his tail. But you put that aside because he never let you forget what he was after.

“why play hard to get, feathers? if you wanna feed me so bad, you’d be enough to keep me going for a long time,” he’d tease, but the malice in his gaze was genuine.

“Because then who will feed you after I’m gone, Sans?” you returned, flicking your tail feathers at him before heading out.

You were getting into arguments with the other harpies about feeding the monsters, but that was fine. You knew you were doing the right thing, even if they didn’t think so.

Still, you were surprised when one day, when you dodged Sans’ grab again, he said, “well, feathers, you win again. guess i should tell my bro he’s not getting a chicken dinner tonight.”

“You have a brother?” You rest on a branch out of his reach.

“yep. he’s here, actually,” Sans ducked his head under the canopy and called, “come on up, bro. feathers is here.”

A longer, lankier naga wriggled up near Sans, his fangs crooked and sockets smaller and empty of light. “OH SANS, SHE IS RATHER JUICY LOOKING. HELLO FEATHERS.”

You were torn between laughing and being unnerved by that greeting. “Hello there. I didn’t know there were two handsome nagas down here.” Best be flattering, after all, and this other skeleton did have an air of…well, former innocence about him.

“FLATTERY WILL GET YOU EVERYWHERE!” the other naga beamed, “I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! SANS, WHEN YOU SAID A TASTY BIRD LADY WAS BRINGING ALL THE FOOD, I DIDN’T BELIEVE YOU, BUT IT TURNS OUT YOU WERE CORRECT.”

“heh, thanks for the confidence, bro.” Sans huffed, but his smile was softer than normal.

“Eh, maybe I’m not that tasty?” You were getting nervous.

“MAYBE, BUT WE’D HAVE TO EAT YOU TO SEE. I WANT A WING, IN THAT CASE.” Papyrus just nodded and then continued talking.

–

As much as he was more polite than Sans, it was unnerving how many times Papyrus mentioned that she was in some way edible. Both the snakes would drool slightly at the sight of her, but it was getting less as the weeks went on.

Not that Sans gave her any rest from the constant attempts to catch her. But the magic around their tails slowly got thicker, and the drooling and hungry rumbles of unseen stomachs decreased, until half of her wanted to trust the nagas.

But logic kept her from that deadly mistake, as did her constant fighting with the other harpies over her charity.

“You’re a traitor if you feed those beasts. They ate my great aunt!”

“They’re mindless evil, sister! How could you want to sustain something like that?”

“It’s against everything we stand for. They deserve what they got.”

You just went about your business, and each conversation with the brothers reinforced your desire to help. Papyrus especially improved, finally apologizing one day, “MISS HARPY, I REALIZE THAT WHILE YOU ARE PROBABLY DELICIOUS, IT’S RUDE TO SAY SO. I AM SORRY.” He curled up and flopped onto his own coils, now padded with a dirty-orange magic gel. “BESIDES, IF YOU WERE TO DIE, I WOULD MISS YOU. WE HAVEN’T HAD FRIENDS FOR AGES.”

It touched your soul that he considered you a friend, but you kept your guard up all the same.

—

One night, after a particularly harrowing day of near fights with the other hunters, you were waiting in your usual spot for Sans. But you were just so…so tired.

It wasn’t until you heard a low rumble that you jerked awake.

Sans was inches from you, black drool spilling from his teeth and eye light blown wide, focused on you alone.

You yelped and took off, realizing that the sound that had woke you had been his stomach growling, probably in anticipation of eating you. It was frightening in a way you hadn’t thought about before.

The next few days he avoided you, and you didn’t mind.


	2. Caution needed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe you shouldn't be so close to the snakes

The naga brothers began to diverge from each other.

Papyrus improved leaps and bounds, becoming more energetic, ceasing his drooling and beginning to worry if YOU were eating enough what with all that hunting. He even scolded his brother for trying to catch you, if he caught sight of it.

But Sans was backsliding. The drool increased again, even when you doubled your trips so the boys were as well fed as they could be. His stomach would growl so loudly it would make you jump and him wince, but what was most worrisome was his increased desperation to catch you.

There was something driving him now, and you no longer felt safe resting on the branches of the forest even when in conversation with the brothers. But part of you wanted to see him more, even if he was scaring you somewhat. His jokes were morbid, as always, but his laughter was more genuine now, and something about the way his magic was beginning to fade from red to blue was encouraging. Yes, his eye was still burning crimson, but the end of his tail was a soft blue that was slowly spreading upward through his body. It was beautiful, and seeing both the skeletons in their healthy, natural states was elating.

And the way he moved…Sans occupied your thoughts even when he wasn’t around.

That was probably what allowed the elders to ambush you, the fact you were distracted by thoughts of Sans.

You’d just finished fishing and were bringing your catch to share with Papyrus and Sans when someone slammed into you from behind. You heard your leg crack and shrieked, trying hard to keep airborne as you turned to face your attacker.

The five elders were circling around you, with the flock leader flapping beside you, “Don’t go an inch further. Your days of aiding those beasts are over, child. Renounce your affiliation with them and we may take you back.”

“What?” You gasped, tearing up from the pain of your broken leg, “What’s wrong with helping them? I don’t get it.”

“They’re vile!” squawked one.

“Mindless eating machines,” replied another.

“They can talk! They hold conversations, and just need food!” You reply, only to get a set of talons raked down your chest.

“Silence, fool! They were always beneath us, and they devoured our kin without mercy. Let them die or become the food for them!” Hissed the flock leader.

Your soul rebelled and you acted before the words even fully processed. Fighting was never your strong point, but you’d do it for Sans and Papyrus. They were getting well, they were happier and kinder and so much better than when you’d first met them. Even if Sans frightened you still, even if he did stare hungrily at you still….even if he’d never care for you like you did for him.

You refused to let them down.

But even your best was not enough against five seasoned warriors when you were already broken and bleeding.

Outnumbered and outskilled, you were flung down to the forest when a well placed smack broke your wing.

You blacked out for a moment when you hit the canopy.

—

You woke and instantly began to cry.

You were sore, but your wing and leg were searingly painful. And you knew you had to crawl, you had to move, or you’d be dinner for someone down here.

Blood was in your mouth, in your nose, everywhere, blurring your vision and making your whimpers too soft to be heard.

A growl made you stop, looking up as a massive white dog monster stepped into the clearing where you’d fallen. Its muzzle was flaked with foam and looked barely less than starved.

There was nothing you could do, and you stared at this creature as it began to open its jaws over your head. This was your death.

At least, you thought it was, until the hissing started. Angry, dangerous hissing that slammed into the side of the dog hard. Bones shooting up around you, shielding you while they plunged into the dog’s side until it yelped and ran away.

Standing at full height, glaring at the spot where the dog had vanished, was Sans.

You sobbed, both relieved the dog was gone, and terrified because you couldn’t put distance between yourself and Sans.

“well, this situation really went to the dogs, huh?” he quipped, sliding over and coiling around you in a circle, not touching you at all as he looked over your injuries. “heh, be glad i found you and not grillbz, or you’d be fried chicken. not that greater dog was that much of an improvement.”

His eye light was darting over every inch of you, the drool sliding down his jaw to drip onto the ground. “heh…you had a bloody good time, huh? well…” Sans maneuvered himself to your level, clawed hands surprisingly gentle as he cupped your cheek, thumb swiping softly through the fearful tears there, “don’t worry, feathers. you won’t have to hurt anymore in a bit.”

You scream and use your good leg to kick up sand, trying to get away. No no no, you don’t want this! You wanted to help, you wanted to leave, you wanted to be friends!

Of course, injured as you are, you don’t get far before he caught you again, coiling directly around your body and making you whimper. But he never presses in with those thick magic bands, just holds you, “don’t do that. you wouldn’t want to miss that tour i promised you, right?”

Sans’ expression was worried as he looked you over again, and it made you cry harder to see the tenderness in that expression while knowing what he was about to do. “Wh-what tour?”

“the inside tour, feathers, remember? front row seats?” he chuckles, but there’s no humor in it. It’s almost sad, and you realize he’s feeling something other than triumph. There might be a chance.

“Sans, please, don’t. Papyrus said he’d miss me if I was dead; don’t do this to him,” if there was one thing you knew, Sans would do pretty much anything for his brother.

He sighed and very gently adjusted your broken wing until it was closer to your body. The movement still made you yelp in pain, “no can do, feathers. if i don’t do this now, somebody else will come along and try to take you from me. you’re going in no matter what.” His expression was hard now, unwavering.

And he was right, too. You couldn’t get out of the forest, and there was no way to fix these injuries fast enough to survive. A swift death was the best kindness he could offer you.

“besides,” he gave you a sly smirk, “i’ve been trying to eat you as long as you’ve known me. did you really expect any different?”

“I guess not,” you laugh sadly, “Thank you, then, I guess, for at least letting me have a fast death. Um,” you have to swallow your tears before you can finish your thought, “say goodbye to Paps for me?”

“that i can do, feathers,” he tucked your hair behind your ears gently, “bye now.”

“Goodbye, Sans,” you closed your eyes and shook. What a way to die, eaten whole by your friend.

His breath on your face was hot, tingling with magic that stung your cuts. But his fangs never sunk into your skin, instead you felt him guiding you with his hands and coils, swallowing softly to draw your body inside.

It was almost funny, that he was being so careful with you in this final encounter, especially after how viciously he’d been trying to catch you up till now. Maybe it was his way of rewarding you for your kindness, by being soft to you now.

Eternity was shorter than the time it took for your whole body to slide inside his. Being careful as he was, Sans took his time and you were almost comatose by the time that last swallow squished into your ears and you no longer felt outside air on your legs. Everything around you was red, and wet, and warm. But it was soft and your whole body tingled with the magic. 

Your breathing hitched as the flesh around you groaned and shifted. Heart racing, you screamed and sobbed, but there was only so much energy in you and it was spent. You passed out as you noticed Sans was moving.

—-

Sans finally managed to slither up into the crook of his favorite sunning tree and get comfortable. He was leaning against one branch, coiled up, with the section of his body containing the harpy resting across his lap. “mmn….well, i win, feathers.” He was stroking over the lump of her body, purring slightly. His stomach gurgled strangely and he shifted uncomfortably. On the one hand, his instincts were pleased with him for protecting her by taking her in. On the other…well, he hadn’t eaten anything this large in years, and his body was complaining about being forced to so suddenly.

He sighs and blinks sleepily. As soon as he’s used all his reserve magic to heal her, Papyrus will have to take her in and finish the job. While her hunting had let them regain a lot of their health, both mental and physical, he didn’t have enough excess magic to fully repair such serious injuries, especially those two broken bones.

She shifted a bit, twitching in her sleep, and Sans purred deeper. He’d apologize for scaring her, once she was healed, and tell her about naga courting traditions. This happened to be one of them, swallowing your potential mate to let your souls sync up. He blushed and looked away, muttering, “guess i’ll have to say how i feel, too, in that case.”

Hard as he’d fought, Sans had fallen in love with her. Her smile, the way she could turn his malicious offers around while still being polite, and the overflowing kindness in her bright green soul….it was more than he’d ever dreamed to find. And now, that lovely soul was pulsing in rhythm with his fractured one.

Relaxing was easy now, and it was time to think of other things. Like revenge on those hags who’d hurt his possible future mate. But that could wait, he supposed. He wanted to take care of his harpy right now.


	3. Explaination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somebody better do some talking

Papyrus was curled up on himself, watching some tiny insects on the ground, when his brother slithered slowly into the clearing. “SANS?” There was a very sizable lump in his body, and he was also covered in blood. “DID YOU GET INTO A FIGHT?”

“sort of. had to save feathers from greater dog,” he huffed and flopped down in his usual spot for resting.

“WHAT?!” Papyrus hissed softly and glared in the direction Sans had come from, “THAT UNGRATEFUL CUR! AFTER SHE’S BEEN DROPPING SO MUCH FOOD INTO THE FOREST AND EVERYTHING! BUT…” He realized a hole in this statement, “FEATHERS NEVER COMES TO THE FOREST FLOOR. HOW DID HE EVEN GET TO HER?”

“she’d been attacked by her own kind and left to die,” his brother replied, lying on his back and gently stroking the full section of his tail. “had to take her in to heal some. would you mind finishing the job, once i’m out of extra magic? she has a broken wing and leg, i think.”

A soft orange blush went across the lankier naga’s cheekbones, “YOU…YOU ALREADY SKIPPED TO THERE! SANS, THAT’S VERY FORWARD OF YOU WHEN YOU HAVEN’T EVEN TOLD HER YOU WERE INTERESTED ROMANTICALLY!”

“i know, i know,” he sighed, eye light half lidded and tired, “but she would’ve been easy pickings otherwise. lost a lot of blood anyway and probably won’t wake up till she’s fully healed.” Sans looked over at him, “so are ya okay with healing her up the rest of the way or not?”

“OH OF COURSE I WILL, BUT PLEASE,” Papyrus slid over and said in a much softer voice, “Tell me you have a plan to deal with those harpies that harmed our dear Feathers.”

“oh you know i do,” Sans chuckled darkly, “there’s five of them, so we might get to split the last one, or you can have it. either way, both of us are eating good tonight. but we won’t tell her unless she asks.”

Nodding, Papyrus curled around Sans protectively, since a full stomach meant he was more vulnerable to attack. “ALRIGHT. NOW YOU REST UNTIL THE HAND OFF. I’LL KEEP WATCH.”

He needn’t have asked, as Sans had already dozed off.

-

You woke up to an orange world. your body was distantly sore, but your wing and leg were no longer burning with pain. In fact, even though you were still in a fog of half sleep, the experimental motions you gave to them both ended up being painless and actually pleasing. Stretching softly, you heard a started, “NYEH?!” and stopped.

“P-Papy?” You asked, surprised. Where was he? You could only see the orange glow around you….wait.

“Papyrus, please tell me where I am.” You spit your words out as fast as you can.

“OH, JUST A MOMENT, DEAR FEATHERS. ALLOW ME TO RELEASE YOU FIRST,” ;he replied cheerfully, and the orange around you vanished. Instead, you were flat on your back in a cage of his tail ribs before he lifted it away from you and resummoned the cushioning magic once you were out. “THERE. YOU ARE IN MY NEST. ALTHOUGH, THIS THICKET IS ALSO SANS’ NEST, BUT THAT IS NEITHER HERE NOR THERE.”

You are wet, but healed, and you know you had broken at least two bones and been eaten by Sans before this. But you’d ended up inside Papyrus….how?

“I AM SURE YOU ARE CONFUSED, DEAR FEATHERS,” Papyrus continued, grabbing some towels and drying you off gently, “LET ME EXPLAIN. SANS TOOK YOU INTO HIMSELF TO HEAL YOUR INJURIES, AND THEN HANDED YOU OFF TO ME WHEN HIS EXTRA MAGIC WAS DEPLETED. NOW YOU ARE FULLY HEALED AND READY TO HEAD HOME, YES?”

“No!” You clung to him as he lowered the towel, holding tight with your newly healed wings, “Why? I was no good to you, either of you, and you healed me? Instead of keeping such a good meal?”

Patting you supportively, Papyrus curls his coils around you and pets your wings, “OH FEATHERS, DO NOT BE SO UPSET. YES, IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE TO YOU, AN OUTSIDER, BUT TO US, IT DOES. SANS IS QUITE FOND OF YOU AND HAS BEEN STRUGGLING WITH HIS FEELINGS FOR SOME TIME, AND IN SKIPPING STRAIGHT TO THE TRADITIONAL TRUST EXERCISE INSTEAD OF DANCING FOR YOU FIRST, IT’S NO WONDER YOU’RE CONFUSED.”

His explanation just left you with more questions, but you decided you could ask Sans when he came back from….wherever.

–

Sans returned in the night, seeing Feathers fluffed up and nested safely in his brother’s coils. Good, the healing was successful and she was still around. Maybe Papyrus had done the whole courtship talk for him, but he doubted it had been coherent if he did. After all, they still fought over the difference between “frisbees” and “freebies” often.

But he couldn’t really concentrate much as he flopped into his nest and blinked slowly. Two adult harpies, both very very dead, was more than enough for his body to stop functioning at top speed. His brain was slowed, and he couldn’t form more than an amused grin at seeing his two favorite people cuddled up together, asleep and safe. He’d show Pap where he’d stashed the other three bodies once he was more awake….maybe in a week or two… or tomorrow? What WAS time, anyhow?

–

He woke up to Feathers talking, “…and as much as I appreciate the gesture, isn’t killing the whole elder council a LITTLE extreme?”

“WELL, AT THIS POINT,” Papyrus’ usual volume assured Sans was fully awake now, “IT’S TOO LATE FOR SEMANTICS. OH, LOOK, HE’S AWAKE! GOOD AFTERNOON BROTHER! YOUR LOVELY MATE HAS JUST FIGURED OUT YOUR GENEROUS GESTURE WITHOUT ANY HELP! SHE’S SO SMART. IT ONLY TOOK HER THREE DAYS!”

“kinda gathered that, bro.” He sighed, still a bit groggy. “did i tell ya where the rest were?”

“YES, BUT MOSTLY THROUGH SLEEP TALKING. YOUR SOCKETS WERE BLANK AND YOU SLURRED YOUR WORDS QUITE BADLY. FEATHERS LAUGHED, THOUGH, SO GOOD JOB!” Papyrus was energetic as usual, so either he’d parsed the three harpies out one at a time to remain alert, or he hadn’t eaten his share yet.

“Sans, really.” Feathers was blushing deeply but her feathers were ruffled out, “you pass out for three days and don’t even explain to me what this whole thing is about. Or why Papy keeps calling me your mate.”

“DID…DID I MISUNDERSTAND?” There was a bit of hurt in his baby brother’s voice, “I MEAN, YOU DID AGREE TO BE TAKEN IN, RIGHT?”

“Yes, but Papyrus, I thought I was choosing to die either slowly from blood loss, painfully through being torn apart by someone else, or quickly by letting Sans end me. We’ve been through this.” Feathers sighed, seeming worried.

“YES, BUT IF YOU AGREED, AND HE TOOK YOU IN, AND YOU SURVIVED, THAT MEANS YOU COMPLETED THE TRUST EXERCISE! AND THAT MEANS YOU’RE OFFICIALLY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE COURTSHIP PROCESS!” Papyrus had his hands on his hips, thoroughly adamant in his position as usual.

“pap, she doesn’t know the steps,” Sans yawned through his sentence. He was still very much out of it, but it seemed he wouldn’t be getting any more sleep until Feathers was brought up to date.

–

You nestled down on the spot, “Then explain it to me, Sans. Is he off the mark or no?”

“not that far,” he chuckled a bit, eye light fuzzy at the edges and blinking far too slowly to be fully aware. You couldn’t blame him, really. That much meat at once had to give anybody a food coma, but….you shivered a bit. Those bodies could easily have been you, once upon a time.

But apparently not anymore. “So…you DO….um…” the heat in your face is distracting.

“yep. not gonna say it outright, but i wouldn’t mind doing this properly once i’m back in a good state,” he mumbled it, but there was something more in that grin he gave you, something softer than you’d seen there before. The pinkish magic blush was a good indicator, too.

“And how long will that take?” You asked. Already, you could tell there wasn’t any way to recognize what was left as a harpy…save if you reassembled the skeletons, you supposed.

“ABOUT ANOTHER DAY OR SO, MY GUESS.” Papyrus chirped, “BUT HE’S READY ENOUGH TO BE LEFT ALONE, SO I’LL GO TAKE MY SHARE. YOU BE GOOD, NOW, BROTHER, AND DON’T LEAVE HER ALONE! NO NAPPING!” And with that he slithered off.

Sans gazed owlishly after his brother, then turned to you, “hey, you know you could’ve gone home after the first day, right? when you were healed?” He seemed genuinely confused about that.

“Yes, but I…” you sigh. Honestly you’d been afraid to leave Papyrus’ side. After being attacked, you know they’d have waited at your nest to make sure you didn’t survive and come back. But there were no harpies left in the area after the elders were killed. You’d felt it when the bond with your flock had broken from distance. You weren’t part of them anymore, but….you felt a new sort of bond forming even as you struggle to find the words. “I don’t think there’s a home for me up there anymore, not really.”

He seemed surprised, but smiled sleepily, “heh, well…even so, you might wanna head back to your nest now. i don’t think you wanna see when we get down to the bare bones here in the next couple’a days.”

Nodding, you step up to him, leaning down to softly tap the end of his nasal ridge with your wing tip. “Okay, lazy bones, but come to the canopy when you and Pap wanna see me again. Now that I can touch you, I’m gonna make up for a few months of not getting to cuddle Pap like he deserves. And maybe you, if you’re nice.”

“no promises,” he hummed softly, and you laugh a bit as you rush out of the cavern and take off. You’ll stay in the nest for now. You don’t want to skip courting steps like Sans did, after all. It just confuses everybody.


End file.
